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| Blackburn Hawks celebrate winning the Play Off title after beating Billingham Stars in the final. |
The NIHL North Play Offs took place at iceSheffield at the weekend with the format reverting to that used in 2016 and 2017 where the semi finals and finals for both the Moralee Division and the Laidler Division were played at the same venue over the same weekend, thus providing a veritable end of season jamboree for 8 different teams and their supporters.
In the Moralee Play Off semi finals on Saturday, Billingham Stars beat Whitley Warriors 3-1 to reach the Sunday final with Blackburn Hawks beating Solihull Barons 5-4 to take the other berth.
The Hawks put in a superb performance in the final fighting back from 3-0 down against the league champions to tie the match 3-3 in normal time and then win the title on penalty shots, securing a cup and play off “double” for the season.
The Laidler Play Offs saw a big shock when fourth place finishers Billingham Buccaneers beat league champions Telford 2-1 in the semi final and then went on to win the final, beating Sutton Sting on penalty shots.
